Show MAN AND THE STATE Governments are but the creations of man and their sole object and justification S justifica-tion are the regulation of the dealings of S all kinds whatsoever of man with man to claim for them any other object and to S give them any other justification is to claim for them that which belongs not to them and to give to them that to which they are not entitled Various forms of government are but various expressiolls of different ideas and nations like men have their ideal standards and the nearest S approach to a realization of their ideal is but an approximation Many centuries are required for nations to reach a high ideal standard in art and in literature and for nations to attain high standards in theories of government and the political rights of man has taken still greater time In art and literature individual men rise to heights of whose immensity the masses never dream politics can approach and Homer and the Iliad are known and read where Plato and The Republic are never heard of The reason is that in art and literature man acts independently of his fellowman and in a domain where the State which is the masses organized on whatever plan they adopt or suffer to be imposed does S not come and is not bound by any other oth-er power than his own will tnd the limits of his own genius Not so in government for there man is limited by the will of the whole and can only act in politics in ac coruance wiiii me constitution or his government gov-ernment and whatever that constitution may be written or unwrttten there he finds his rights and duties defined there he finds them protected In America we have adopted a written constitution con-stitution based on the theory the only true theory to secure freedom that the powers of the government are derived from the consent ofthe governed With us government is a means to an end 1 that end the liberty of the citizenS citizen-S and the right to act for himself in all things in whatever manner he may choose but so that he shall not infringe on the rights of other citizens For the government to withhold from any citizen who is obedient to and in no way contravenes contra-venes the law any political rights is for the government to commit a wrong against those from whom it derives its existence True it is that the charter of our political rights in this Territory is the Organic Sand S-and aside from that we have no political rights But the Organic Act is a recognition recog-nition of the American idea of government govern-ment which is before all things the right of the people of a locality to govern and control the affairs of the locality but it is expected that the ideas of the people of the locality will in essentials be in harmony with the underlying theory S of the whole country as to the foundation S founda-tion of our institutions which foundation S founda-tion is that government is created forman II for-man and not man for government In Utah there are two parties 1 the Peoples Party and the Liberal party 1 neither of which believes that government S govern-ment was created for man the one holding S I hold-ing that man was created for a church I S and the other that man was created to destroy this church 1 while each maintains that the other is trampling the Constitu S 11011 unuer foot The Peoples Party holds that the Government has no rights while the Liberal Party holds that the people have no rights The Peoples Party Bay that the Liberal Party wish to enchain them and hence call for a commission 1 while the Liberal Party say that the people are already enchained and will be until a commission is appointed forgetting that the enchainment of the I mind may be broken by the mind itself while to break the enchainment of the law is to in come conflict with a recog nizod material and tangible authority an authotity which asserts its rights over the body the medium of the soul and mind The enchainment of the mint by a spiritual authority is subjective with the individual and being subjective may be thrown off when the enchainment becomes I be-comes irksome and the individual de sires to reassert his independence and right of intellectual self controlS control-S The contentment of the soul with the conditions by which it is surrounded whether created from S within or accepted from without is a matter with which the State can have no concern so long as those conditions areS are-S not inhaimonious in action and not in I thought merely For the State to coerceS coerce-S thought is for the State to kill thought and destroy freedom All the State canS can-S ask is obedience to the law the law being the expression of the will of the people And will a commission tend to make I S people think for themselves and become Americans in thought so far as government govern-ment is concerned 1 Will the tendency not rather be to stifle all thought and postpone indefinitely the day when all citizens will recognize that their temporal allegiance is due to the j government which protects them in their temporal affairs their property and theirS their-S rights as citizens The religious rights which are vouchsafed to them by the i Constitution itself are protected by the temporal power of the government and not by the spiritual power of any church The recognition of this great fact in our government will be the cure of all our evils in Utah and to introduce a commission com-mission would be to prevent such a recognition re-cognition by those over whom a commission would be placed But we are told that for a commission uI there are many precedents and long and learned articles are written that they maybe J may-be cited And what is the special merit S of precedent To republican govern S ments precedents are what kings privileges privil-eges are to limited monarchies things cited in support of power and in favor of the repression of liberty Precedent is ever a sanction for tyranny never an advocate vocate for freedom Are commissions to be called for because there are precedents preced-ents for them It seems that the older the precedent the more weight it has with those who are calling for a commission Is there a special providentce in precedent If EO the church dominant and militant in Utah can cite precedent for its preaching and its practice from creations first dawn and this from sacred books worshipped by half the world To establish the theory the-ory and the fact that in our form of government govern-ment the citizen stands first before all churches that from the citizens the government gov-ernment derives its power and that government gov-ernment deriving power from any other source is government usurping power should be the aim and desire of all Americans Ameri-cans but more especially of those who adhere ad-here to the doctrines of Democracy and not to follow precedent |